Doctor Whooves - Darkness and Regrets
by DMRWhooves
Summary: After a year of travelling with Derpy Hooves/Ditzy Doo the Doctor finds himself plagued by visions and nightmares. He is not the only one. Everypony else is experiencing similar nightmares. The doctor finds himself fighting through the nights, his regrets and his overwhelming insanity.
1. Chapter 1 - Nightmares

Chapter 1 – Nightmares

I lay on Ditzy's floor a few feet away from the roaring fire and ditzy and her young filly. It was, after all, yet another freezing hearth's warming eve night. An excuse I can confess just to be snuggled up close to Miss Hooves. She had been travelling with me for some time now; must have been close to a year. Unlike my other companions I felt a special connection to ditzy; she managed to find me 3 times before becoming my companion. Very curious indeed. Some spend decades, even centuries waiting and searching for me and she managed it 3 times within a month. Only one man ever managed that. I often wonder where Wilfred is now.

I laid there as I watched ditzy and dinky stir in their sleep simultaneously, as if they were having the same dream. The same dream as I'm always watching ditzy have. Her body begins to shake and her legs start to flail. She was running, once again, running. Whether or not this was normal for a pony I was not sure but it just seemed unnatural to watch. Ditzy would start to sweat, fall into a hot temper. She would mumble in her sleep, always the same words silently erupting from her mouth. "Doctor… Help!"

Ditzy awoke in a hot sweat, panting as if she had just completed the running of the leaves in a record time. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and began to look around the room. Her left eye observing little dinky whilst her right wandered the room, as usual.

I laid there soundless with my head resting on my hooves, gazing towards ditzy as she walked over to dinky and pulled her quilt over her as if to comfort her racing dreams. Ditzy immediately remembered that I was present, her sight moved upon me. One of the only times you could have ever seen both eyes concentrated on the same object. There was something about me which ditzy seemed to be fascinated about and was always interested in; most likely my cutie mark, I always caught her staring at it.

I remained tranquil, as if asleep and watched as ditzy smiled anxiously as she stumbled towards me, laying her tail over mine and resting her head upon my neck.

The next morning I awoke to see the room empty. I jumped up startled; I was always the first up. "Ditzy?... Dinky?..." I screamed in panic. I rushed to the kitchen; perhaps the two of them were baking muffins after awaking peckish in the early hours of the morning, it wouldn't be the first time that had happened. They were nowhere in the house to be found. I rushed out onto the landing, soaked in sweat; my recently combed light brown fur now stood on end from the fear induced by the disappearance of my girls.

I looked to my hooves to contemplate where in Equestria they could have gone. It was then I heard a creek. The door began to open behind me. A menacing shadow engulfed the room, the blackened figure standing in the doorway, as if a shadow himself. As I reached into my pocket to throw my sonic screwdriver into my mouth I heard hoof steps approaching from behind. The screwdriver fell from my mouth in shock. There was ditzy and dinky, as if they had materialised from nowhere walking down the stairs. Both with glazed over eyes. Knowing and yet clueless to what they were doing. I was frozen in place as they walked past me towards the darkened figure in the doorway. I turned around to convince them to stop but they kept on going. The two of them continued to move further away. The closer I got, the faster I travelled the further they appeared to walk. I stopped running forward and took a step back.

"Ditzy?" I yelled.

The grey mare looked back towards me, a tear running down her face. Ditzy turned back towards the figure and continue to move forward with her young filly. The girls left through the door and passed right through the figure. The door slammed shut but the figure still stood there, staring, wondering what to do next it seemed.

The figure began to grow in size. The ceiling and walls began to get further apart as the figure continuously grew to incomprehensible size. At first I slowly crawled backwards, not breaking eye contact with the figure.

The ground below me began to crack. Beams of molten light began to burst from the now cobblestone floor. The voices of 1000 ponies screamed out in pain with every crack that opened. Fear hit me like a tidal wave… I did that which I did best. I ran.

No matter how far or fast I ran, I never achieved any greater distance between myself and the figure. The cracks were still opening around me, rapidly getting larger and more explosive. I was afraid to look back, for the first time in a long time I was alone. Nopony was there to help me. There was no escape.

The newly emerged crack from in front opened into a crevice which soon overwhelmed the entirety of the room. I began to fall, ever faster into the bottomless pit beneath my hooves. As I fell towards my inevitable demise the entirety of my life flashed before my eyes; but these were not just my memories as of yet, but my regrets and my future; most likely shown to me by the TARDIS, she had a knack of announcing things at the last moment. People I have yet to meet, places I will soon see. These places were mostly dark and barren. There was however the occasional beam of light, the sense of happiness which I strived to propagate. The reasons to carry on, the reasons my death was untimely. The reason I must find a way.

But was there a way?

Time began to slow. The walls of the pit began to peel away to reveal ever blinding light. My vision became completely impaired. A great blur of white light… and then nothing. My eyes forced themselves shut due to the immense pain.

I opened my eyes to try to see beyond the light. It was ditzy. Sitting in front of me, smiling anxiously once more. I could see it in her eyes that she was worried about me. The floor around me was damp with sweat. My fur was still on end. A tear hastened down my face.

A knock. Another. Another. And another.


	2. Chapter 2 - Suspicions

Chapter 2 – Suspicions

I leapt from my place to the sound of these knocks. "It can't be, can it?" I rhetorically asked. I knew that he was dead. I knew HE was dead! However that didn't stop him the last time. I began sprinting around the house checking every door, every window, every nook and cranny to find the origin of this noise.

Derpy chased after me all the way; I could sense that she was trying to tell me something but I was lost in panic. I checked the entire house and the surrounding area; there was nothing around besides the fish in Derpy's pond and the birds in the trees. I began to calm from my hot temper knowing I must have still partially been in a nightmare when the knocking occurred.

"Doctor? DOCTOR?" Derpy shouted as she rushed from the house and dived at me. She began to nuzzle my neck but instantly pulled away after realising what she had begun to do. "I was worried about you doctor." "Why did you begin to sprint around my house like that?"

"I'm sorry ditzy, it's just that I heard a horrifying noise from my past."

"What is it doctor, is it those Vashta Nerada thingies you talked about? ARE THOSE THINGS IN MY HOUSE?" Derpy screamed in fear.

"Of course they're in your house ditzy, the Vashta Nerada are everywhere. But they're not what you need to worry about. They're benign in such small numbers." I replied with my very common presumptuous tone. "Ditzy my dear, the knocking we hea…" I was harshly interrupted by ditzy.

"What knocking? Doctor there was no knocking. The only pony to come close to the house today was Cherry Heart, but that was at 8am this morning. It is like 2pm now."

"You're telling me that I managed to sleep for 14 hours straight. But who on earth is Cherry Heart… well I guess that might explain the knocking. Perhaps I heard the knocking but my subconscious only allowed me to hear the noise as I left my sleep." I replied whilst pondering to myself.

"I don't think so doctor. Cherry has a key, she's been my friend for almost a year and she comes every Sunday to take dinky for me so I can get all my chores done. Surely you must have met her, she is here every Sunday." Ditzy appeared to have the same worried and caring look as that of which she had as I awoke from my nightmare.

"If what you're saying is true then there is no physical reason for the knocking I heard and who is Cherry Heart. We have been travelling for close to a year now. I'm always with you but I have no memory of this Cherry Heart." I sat there on the cobblestone pathway leading up to Derpy's house, puzzling over the sudden appearance of a pony which I was expected to know, and that knocking.

Derpy shook her head as I held my hoof to my chin and walked away towards her house. That's when it hit me. I sprinted towards the tardis. Derpy felt the wind rush through her mane as I bolted past her towards the basement where the tardis was resting. She soon began chasing after me out of curiosity to see what else was rushing through my old mind. I entered the tardis and went straight to the console.

"What is it now Doctor?" questioned Derpy.

"I knew it!" I shouted triumphantly. "Ditzy my dear, I know why I don't recognise her name. She doesn't exist. There is no pony in all of Ponyville called Cherry Heart."

"You dumb fool. That isn't her real name. She prefers that name as it dissociates her from her family. That's what she's told me anyway, she always had disagreements with her family." Derpy responded in an arrogant tone.

"Well then Miss doo, do tell me her birth name"

"I don't know her real name. We've been friends for about a year now but she still hasn't fully opened up to me and from what she's told me about her past I wouldn't open up easily either if I was her, especially after the pain of friends betraying her that she once felt." A tear crawled out of the corner of Derpy's eye as she finished.

"DITZY, how and where did you meet her?" I enquired furiously.

"I met her about a week before I met you the first time. It was at Fluttershy's birthday party which Pinkie Pie held at the town hall. She saw that I was struggling to calm down dinky and offered to help. Cherry was really good with her and offered to take care of her every Sunday so I had some time to relax as she said she understood how hard it was raising a child alone. She was a primary school teacher after all."

"What's her cutie mark?"

"I-I-….I think it is a…" Derpy sat there in wonder for a moment but slowly began to raise her hoof and pointed towards a glass case above one of the consoles. "One of those, yeah that looks just like it."

I looked to where she was pointing and my jaw dropped. I sprinted for my wardrobe and through on my suit, holster and all.

Derpy was the holster. "D-d-doctor, what in Equestria are you doing? I thought you didn't use guns." Derpy questioned in fear.

I fastened the holster into place beneath my overcoat as to conceal it. "Well Miss Doo, if what you are saying is true then we have a problem." "From what you are telling me it appears as if your friend is a time lord!"

"Well isn't that good. From the stories you've told me about the time lords they sound great." Derpy responded in bewilderment.

"The stories I tell you are of my early memories and how I choose to remember them. The time lords are an old race with a billion years of history and became stale and cold by the end of their time. Wherever there is life, time lord influence encouraged it to prosper and procreate. But the time lord idiom of 'Let life persevere' was soon replaced with 'Time Lord victorious.' My friends, my family and the rulers I trusted betrayed me and that which they taught and stood for. The time lords fought against the lives which they created. Millions died every second and I had to stop them. I held the moment; I did what needed to be done. Only I and my greatest en… I mean friend managed to escape the time war. But he is dead. He ventured back into the time war and ensured that the time lords didn't return to the prospering universe. The fact that a pony with a cutie mark of a time lord device is an indication that the time lords survived in some form and must have been thrown through cracks in the universe and even cracks in the time vortex itself and somehow found a way into your world." "Ditzy my dear, I don't use guns, but the time lords didn't show mercy!"

I turned my back on Derpy and dug at the tardis floor with my right hoof. After taking a deep breath I returned to Derpy. "Ditzy, we need to find Cherry and dinky."

"I don't want you to hurt my friend doctor." Whimpered Derpy. "She's the best friend I've ever had."

"Ditzy, a long time ago a companion of mine was to be married to whom she considered her 'best friend.' Little did she know that her fiancé was in fact feeding huon particles. A very deadly energy source created by the time lords. Her fiancé tricked her and tried to use her to release the Racnoss held in the centre of the planet earth from my universe. If you think that just because someone is your friend it means they won't betray your trust you have much to learn about the universe."

I gasped for a breath, panting. Now beginning to remember all those I left behind after completely changing their world and views. Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Sarah-Jane.

So many memories, so many regrets.

I looked back up towards Derpy to see her crying on the floor, covering her face with her hooves and mane as to hide her sadness and the realisation that I was right. She realised that I would only do that which would ensure the safety and security of dinky.

I walked over to Derpy, placed my hoof on her chin and raised it. I could see into her eyes, into her very soul that she hated the idea of hurting others but would do what Is necessary to help those she loved and cared about. She pulled away from me and looked away. I wrapped my hooves around Derpy's body, hugging her and nuzzling her neck. She placed her head on my chest and cried into my shoulder whilst listening to my hearts. She soon calmed and pulled herself together.

"Ditzy, where is cherry now?" I asked caringly.

"Sh-she usually takes dinky for a walk in the park at around 3pm so she is tired by the time they return home. It makes caring for her so much easier when she is worn out." Responded Derpy.

"Well then we need to find them, now!" I shouted as I stormed out of the tardis.

Derpy asked "Wouldn't it make more sense to take the tardis?"

"Are you kidding?" I replied. "A time lord can tell a tardis apart from her surroundings easily. The chameleon circuit isn't fool proof."

We continued onwards towards the park, running past every pony. We couldn't stop or say hello and yet every pony was trying to talk to us. One of the curses of being somewhat of an interesting pony in a 'polite' universe I guess. We carried on running, never stopping, ever faster, trying to find Cherry in the park.

I stopped to allow Derpy to catch up. I could tell that she was worried as no pony ever was but she just didn't have the energy to be doing this much running. We had to have been running for a good half-hour. There was however still no fortune.

As I sat beside Derpy waiting for her to catch her breath Derpy shouted at the top of her void lungs, "over there, that's her!"

Derpy pointed towards a light brown earth pony, her long black mane flowing in the wind as if ethereal. Her cutie mark was truly time lord based. The Gallifreyan fob watch on her plot sticking out like a sore thumb. I charged at her faster than I had ever run before. My mane was standing on end; my eyes were overflowing with rage and resentment. Nothing could stop me now. Finding another time lord was, or so I thought, impossible. But there she was, standing before me as I bolted towards her.

I shouted, "STOP!" She turned to me and shock filled her large eyes as I flew through the air towards her. Landing atop her and rolling with her through the dust covered path on which she walked. I pinned her to the floor as Derpy ran towards dinky and embraced her young filly with parental compassion, with the knowledge her daughter was safe.

"Get off me you, you brute." Cherry whined. "HELP, HELP… I'M BEING ASSAULTED," she bellowed at the top of her lungs. I placed my hoof over her mouth to stop her screaming any further.

"So Cherry is it, who are you really?" I solicited. "The secret's out now TIME LORD. No pony has a gallifreyan device as their cutie mark, so tell us who you are."

I removed my hoof from her mouth to hear her answer.

"What's a time lord; I'm just a primary school teacher!" Cherry cried in fear.

Derpy screamed out in distress, "Doctor! Get off of her, she obviously doesn't know what you're talking about."

Yeah, sure" I replied. "Well then miss cherry not a time lord heart let's have a listen at your hearts."

I thrust my head into her chest to listen to her heart beat.

Both the mares screamed. "Doctor, what are you doing to her" asked Derpy in a disturbed manner. "You can't just thrust your face into a mare's chest."

I pulled away from Cherry, dumbfounded by what I found. "A single heartbeat!" I stood there in shock. "This can't be. I swear she had to be a time lord."

Cherry shouted back as she ran, "You're insane. Ditzy I'm truly sorry but I can't help you with dinky if that weirdo is nearby."

Derpy looked at me with disgust. "You idiot, you've went and scared off my best friend." Derpy chased after Cherry. "Cherry, I'm sorry." "He's my stupid brother, obsessed with conspiracy theories and beautiful mares. Please wait for me."

Dinky and Derpy rushed after Cherry through the park and left me alone. What was happening to me, I've never been this wrong about anything I was so sure about.

I thought to myself "I guess Time Lords do live too long." My sanity was beginning to fade from me. I've been sleeping for more than 6 hours, I've been having nightmares, I've been hearing drumming and I've just spent the last hour chasing an innocent mare because I was suspicious of her personal life.

"Perhaps it would have been better if falling through the Sagittarius void had just caused the collapse of space around me and not transported me to Equestria after all."

The sun was begging to set. Dusk had dawned and the day was becoming night. The air was beginning to cool and the shadows of the objects around me were growing larger as the sun began to set behind the trees.

I looked down towards the cobblestone pathway and slowly closed my eyes. Knowing that this old fool of a pony might have just lost his only friend in this world.

I sat on the pathway, wallowing in my own depression. The darkness around me became engulfed in the ever growing shadow as the last beams of light descended below the trees. The hair along my spine stood on end. And I looked up.


End file.
